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- Promotions
- GS-9 to GS-10
2026 editionEffective January 202658 locality pay areasData last changed 2026-08-25
\nGS-9 to GS-10: what the promotion is actually worth
\nThe step you land on is decided by a rule, not by negotiation — and the raise it produces shrinks the longer you wait. From step 1 the promotion adds $5,337 to base pay; from step 10 it adds $1,125.
\nMinimum time in grade
52 weeksat GS-9 before you are eligible for GS-10. That is a legal minimum, not a schedule.Biggest jump
$5,337promoted from step 1, which lands you on GS-10 step 1.Smallest jump
$1,125promoted from step 10, which lands you on GS-10 step 7. The grades overlap.Ceiling raised by
$6,930GS-10 step 10 against GS-9 step 10. This is where the value of a promotion actually sits.Which step will I land on?
There is a rule for this and it leaves nothing to discretion. Find your current step on the left.
| At GS-9 | Base rate now | Becomes | New base rate | Base increase |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Step 1 | 52,727 | Step 1 | 58,064 | +5,337 |
| Step 2 | 54,485 | Step 1 | 58,064 | +3,579 |
| Step 3 | 56,243 | Step 2 | 59,999 | +3,756 |
| Step 4 | 58,001 | Step 3 | 61,934 | +3,933 |
| Step 5 | 59,759 | Step 4 | 63,869 | +4,110 |
| Step 6 | 61,517 | Step 5 | 65,804 | +4,287 |
| Step 7 | 63,275 | Step 6 | 67,739 | +4,464 |
| Step 8 | 65,033 | Step 7 | 69,674 | +4,641 |
| Step 9 | 66,791 | Step 7 | 69,674 | +2,883 |
| Step 10 | 68,549 | Step 7 | 69,674 | +1,125 |
These are base rates, before locality pay. Your actual figures are these multiplied by your area\’s percentage, and the increase scales with it: in an area at 30% the numbers above are roughly a third larger. The calculator will do it for your area.
The rule behind it
Two within-grade increases first, then the lowest step in the new grade that matches.
Under 5 CFR 531.214 the standard method works in two moves. Your current rate is raised by two within-grade increases of your current grade — so a GS-9 step 4 is first treated as a GS-9 step 6. Then the agency finds the lowest step of GS-10 that is at least that amount, and that is where you land.
Two consequences follow, and both surprise people. The first is that you never land on step 1 unless you were near the bottom of the old grade: promotion carries your position up with you. The second is that the increase gets smaller the higher your step, because the two grades overlap — at GS-9 step 10 you are already earning close to what GS-10 pays in its lower steps.
Exceptions exist and matter. If a special rate table covers your occupation, or if you are on a retained rate, or if the agency uses the alternate method, the arithmetic changes. Your servicing human resources office computes the official figure; this page tells you what to expect and what to ask about.
How long does it take?
Fifty-two weeks at GS-9 is the legal minimum. Whether anything happens at fifty-three is a different question.
Time-in-grade is a floor, not a promise. On a career ladder — a position advertised as GS-9/10, or with GS-10 named as the full performance level — promotion is non-competitive: once the year is served and performance is acceptable, it happens. Off a ladder, GS-10 is a different position and you compete for it like anyone else.
That distinction is worth more than any number on this page. Read the vacancy announcement for the full performance level: it tells you where the job actually ends up, and the entry grade is temporary by design.
Promotion also resets the step clock. Whatever time you had accumulated toward your next within-grade increase at GS-9 is gone; the wait starts again at your new step. A promotion arriving a month before a step increase was due is therefore worth less in the first year than it looks — you get the promotion increase but lose the step increase you had almost earned.
Why the ceiling matters more than the raise
From step 10 the promotion adds $1,125 today and $6,930 to where you can eventually get.
GS-9 tops out at $68,549 in base pay. GS-10 tops out at $75,479. Someone promoted late in the grade sees almost nothing in the first paycheck and a great deal over the following years, because every remaining step increase is now being earned on the higher schedule.
From step 1 the arithmetic is the opposite: $5,337 arrives immediately. Neither is better in general. Which one you are looking at depends on where you are in the grade, and it is worth knowing before you read a promotion offer as a disappointment.
Reaching step 10 from step 1 takes 18 years at one grade, so in practice most people are promoted somewhere in the middle and see something in between.
What it is worth where the rates are highest
The same promotion is worth more in a high-percentage area, because the percentage multiplies the gap as well as the salary. Step 5 to step 5, for comparison.
| Locality pay area | Locality pay | GS-9 step 5 | GS-10 step 5 | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland, CA | 46.34% | 87,451 | 96,298 | +8,847 |
| New York-Newark, NY-NJ-CT-PA | 37.95% | 82,438 | 90,777 | +8,339 |
| Los Angeles-Long Beach, CA | 36.47% | 81,553 | 89,803 | +8,250 |
| Houston-The Woodlands, TX | 35% | 80,675 | 88,835 | +8,160 |
| Washington-Baltimore-Arlington, DC-MD-VA-WV-PA | 33.94% | 80,041 | 88,138 | +8,097 |
That is the figure on the payslip, not the figure in your pocket. The areas paying the most are frequently the areas where things cost the most, and our national ranking sorts every area by what the salary actually buys rather than by its size. On that measure the order changes considerably.